A FATHER yesterday claimed his beloved daughter "died alone" in a hospital casualty department while waiting for treatment.

A FATHER yesterday claimed his beloved daughter "died alone" in a hospital casualty department while waiting for treatment.

The family of 32-year-old Rhiannon Jenkins is bringing a civil action alleging that delays in her treatment led to her death at the Princess of Wales Hospital, Bridgend, in October 2000.

Her father Richard said, "My daughter died alone on a side room in A&E waiting for treatment."

Miss Jenkins had been taken to the hospital by ambulance with no pulse three hours earlier after suffering stomach pains and vomiting all night.

Her GP had ordered the 999 call after deciding she was at death's door.

But once Miss Jenkins, a former dog groomer from Kenfig Hill, arrived at the hospital she was kept on a trolley in the casualty department's corridor for 20 minutes, waiting to be assessed.

She was then moved to the resuscitation unit because it was the only available space.

The family claims that a failure to recognise the severity of her symptoms and treat them led directly to her death.

Miss Jenkins's sister Nerys, 34, said, "As a result we have been deprived of a loving sister and daughter to our parent."

Nerys and Mr Jenkins won an apology from coroner Philip Walters yesterday for the 29-month delay in hearing Miss Jenkins's inquest.

The inquest heard that Miss Jenkins, who smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day, had been complaining of stomach pain for more than 24 hours before she was admitted to casualty at 2.30pm with a GP letter explaining his concerns, and was left on a trolley in the corridor.

A&E staff nurse Lorraine O'Dwyer said, "It was extremely busy. There were not any beds in the casualty department at that time. I can remember two or three patients on trolleys in the corridor. I can remember her being on a trolley with two ambulancemen and I can remember looking at her and thinking she does not look very well."

When the first bed became available, in the resuscitation unit, Ms O'Dwyer moved Miss Jenkins on to it and hooked her up to a cardiac monitor.

"It was quite difficult to get a history out of Miss Jenkins," said the nurse, who had not read the letter because she did not have time.

"I kept asking her and she was quite evasive."

Remaining with Miss Jenkins, the nurse called Dr Latchman Nangalia by phone at about 3pm.

He believed the patient had suffered an extreme shock, the inquest heard, and he ordered her to be given fluids while he consulted a radiologist about a stomach scan. The staff doctor also said he took two heart traces at 4pm and 4.30pm which indicated a minor heart attack, but before he got round to consulting senior colleagues 10 minutes later Miss Jenkins's heart had stopped and the crash team failed to resuscitate her.

Consultant pathologist Dr Alan Rees said the damage to Miss Jenkins's heart indicated that she had suffered a heart attack at least two days before her death.

She eventually died from another blood clot triggered by either the MRSA or pneumococcus bacteria, both of which were present in her body.

Mr Walters, recording a verdict of natural causes, said, "I accept there were some shortcomings, not many, but some shortcomings in admission to the hospital and there was a disparity in the notes, and I am sure the trust will look into that. But at the end of the day Miss Jenkins has had a heart attack. She has come in and in my view she has come in too late."

After the hearing Miss Jenkins's sister said, "We would like to express our deep dis-satisfaction with the verdict of natural causes. We will take whatever legal action necessary to investigate what happened to Rhiannon at the A&E department of the Princess of Wales Hospital.

"We cannot understand why Rhiannon was not treated as an emergency at the time. We feel that Rhiannon's death was unnecessary and it could have been avoided with proper treatment. We hope that both the hospital and coroner will learn from this one and tighten their procedures to avoid any other family suffering the same tragedy as we have.

"We will campaign for justice from the hospital and also for a complete overhaul of an archaic coroner's system which gives little comfort or solace to the families who have lost loved ones."

The family's solicitor, Sonia McGarrigle, said, "We are pursuing a civil action against the trust. We will be investigating it on the grounds of the timings and that she should have been treated earlier and that would have made a difference.

"Money is not the object. It is the accountability and the lessons to be learned. That is the issue here."